GO INSIDE: Business without fairy-tales

Here's the article from the brand new issue of SKOLKOVO business-school corporate magazine GO INSIDE!

Keith Goodall, visiting professor at the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO, tells how to manage a company in order to make it successful and explains why he is so fond of teaching at the SKOLKOVO Business-School.

GO INSIDE: Business without fairy-tales

GO INSIDE: On your marks!

Today we would like to introduce to you the article from the brand new issue of SKOLKOVO business-school corporate magazine GO INSIDE!, which includes three stories of SKOLKOVO students’ enterprises and the difficulties they had to face.   

GO INSIDE: On your marks!

GO INSIDE: Startup Academy in faces

Here's the article from the brand new issue of SKOLKOVO business-school corporate magazine GO INSIDE!, devoted to the professors of SKOLKOVO Startup Academy, each of which is the acknowledged international expert in his field.

GO INSIDE: Startup Academy in faces

Interview with Arjun Nair, F1GMAT

Why did you choose SKOLKOVO MBA?

It is a school with a strong focus on entrepreneurship and at the same time the learning by doing approach gives  you the opportunity to understand how businesses in different geographies ( India, China, US and Russia) work. 

You gain a first hand knowledge on the business processes that define the company's daily operations, and get a chance to work on improving a particular processes or developing new strategic initiatives, etc depending on the scope of work defined by the client.

It is the program structure that really got me interested in the program.

How has been your experience till now (Class Experience, Curriculum and Value you received from the program)?

Class Experience - The class size is relatively small (20), which has its pro's and con's. But the caliber of the students representing 9-10 different nationalities is great.

Curriculum - The program structure as such is something very unique. Although, i would like to see some improvements in the academic support & project guidance provided during phases where we work with companies.

Value from the program - Working with different nationalities in different geographies in very different business environments and project requirements. I am sure i will be able to carry forward this gained experience and knowledge to help me in my professional life.

As an Indian student in SKOLKOVO, what has been some of the challenges and rewards of joining SKOLKOVO MBA?

A key personal challenge in the program, is to keep focus on your academics, as you can easily mistake the program for a nice long cross country vacation; maintaining a disciplined approach to your studies and your project performance will ensure that you would get the desired  results at the end.

The MBA team and my classmates have been excellent, and made me feel just like back home. 

Although, once you step out of the doors of campus, you would need to speak Russian, knowledge of English will not help you get around the city. Once you learn the language, get used to seeing a lot of snow and get introduced to Vodka, Moscow has a lot more to offer.

What advice would you give to MBA Aspirants and Indian students in particular about joining SKOLKOVO MBA program

Be clear on what your purpose is for joining a relatively new B-School in Russia,  have a clear goal.

If you are a risk taker, who is against most conventional MBA's, this is great.

The program is great for entrepreneurship and there is a lot of opportunity to network with leading entrepreneurs in Russia and quite a few in Boston and at MIT.

The program is very well suited if you want to work ahead in Russia (with knowledge of Russian), if you would like to work outside Russia after the program, as of now the Skolkovo Brand reach might be comparatively lower in the international market.

Personal development: summer reading

Fun to read these books also have a serious purpose.  Find out more about how teams really work, how to be more creative, how to motivate yourself and others, how to communicate and finally how to switch off.

There is an I in team: what elite athletes and coaches really know about high performance

Mark de Rond

Harvard Business Review Press, 2012

xxii, 224 pages

ISBN: 9781422171301

What can sport teach us about teams?  This book sheds new light on the inherent conflict between the team and the individuals within it and the challenge, for the leader, of making a team add up to more than the sum of its parts.  Using examples from the world of professional sport the author looks at issues like why the best teams rarely ever comprise the best individual performers, why likability often overrides competence even in sophisticated environments, why everyone on the team is not equal, why a focus on harmony can harm a team’s performance and why a belief in luck can itself improve performance.

Search inside yourself: the unexpected path to achieving success, happiness (and world peace)

Chade-Meng Tan

HarperOne, 2012

xvi, 268 pages

ISBN: 9780062116925

This book is about the very popular personal development course at Google.  The author was originally an engineer during Google’s start up phase but now, in his new post of “jolly good fellow”, helps Google employees get in touch with their feelings. The focus is on personal awareness achieved through meditation and mindfulness and on improved relations with others by gaining a better understanding of emotions and developing empathy.

inGenius: a crash course on creativity

Tina Seelig

HarperOne, 2012

216 pages

ISBN: 978006020703

Everything - every single word - provides an opportunity to leverage what you know to stretch your imagination.  But many people have not been encouraged to think in this way. This book presents a set of tools, the “innovation engine”, taught at Stanford University, to enhance creativity. Creativity techniques are likened to the scientific method as being useful ways of formally developing everyone’s innate creative potential. Students learn how to polish their powers of observation, practice connecting and combining ideas, challenge their assumptions and reframe problems.

Drive: the surprising truth about what motivates us

Daniel H. Pink

Canongate, 2010

ixx, 242 pages

ISBN: 9781847677686

Money is of limited use as a motivator and can even have the effect of turning what could be fun into drudgery.  This book discusses the importance of the intrinsic motivation of self direction, engagement and purpose.  For the entrepreneur who needs to keep going in challenging circumstances and inspire others also, Pink provides both an understanding of motivation and a took kit to keep motivated.

Executive presence: the art of commanding respect like a CEO

Harrison Monarth

McGraw Hill, 2010

256 pages

ISBN: 9780071632874

Executive presence is a personal image which inspires respect.  It is cultivated by self awareness, communication skills and managing perceptions. Everyone has a brand created by an amalgamation of the impressions they make on others but it is desirable to replace this "random" brand with a crafted one.  This book describes how to pitch ideas, read people, manage conflict, convince others and increase one's reputation, in person and online.  Practical suggestions include a seven day plan for improving one's Social IQ by focusing on a key aspect each day.  Awareness of how people filter information, by their biases and previous experiences and of basic neurolinguistic techniques is critical for effective communication and obtaining buy-in.

Poke the box: when was the last time you did something for the first time?

Seth Godin

Do You Zoom, Inc, 2011

85 pages

ISBN: 978 1 936719006

This very short book by marketing guru Seth Godin encourages the reader to get started.  Godin believes that a culture of compliance, established in factories for mass production and in other industries using the factory model, has robbed many people of their natural initiative.  He identifies "instigation capital" as a key differentiator in the new project world;  translating ideas into products or services which can "ship".  The anecdotes and exhortations in the book are designed to overcome obstacles and inspire the reader with the necessary mindset to do this.

Obliquity: why our goals are best achieved indirectly

John Kay

Profile Books, 2011

210 pages; ISBN: 9781846682896

John Kay, economist, business school professor and Financial Times writer, presents his new approach to problem solving - obliquity.  Obliquity is the best approach whenever complex systems evolve in an uncertain environment and whenever the effects of our actions depend on the ways in which others respond to them.  Instead of approaching a solution head on, Kay recommends a process of iteration and adaption, choosing from a limited set of options and then reviewing the impact.  The book is full of anecdotes pointing out the failures of the direct approach and the wide use of "Franklin's Gambit", the presentation of a logical rationale for a decision after the solution has already been made using the oblique approach.

Blah, blah, blah: what to do when words don’t work

Dan Roam

Portfolio, 2011

350 pages

978-1591844594

This is the new book from visual thinking expert Dan Roam, author of the Back of the napkin and Unfolding the napkin. Roam believes that words can get in the way of thinking: people can become overwhelmed by too much information or disengaged through boredom.  Instead he describes how simple pictures can be much more effective at communicating complex ideas; a new grammar of vivid thinking.  The key elements are: draw while talking; learn the basic elements of visual grammar, identify visually the essentials of an idea.

Rework: change the way you work forever


Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

Vermilion, 2010

279 pages, 9780091929787

The creators of popular web-based apps for small businesses, 37signals, identify a focus on the fundamental needs of a type of customer as the core of a successful business.  But the operating principles they use are in contradiction to much established practice:  minimize external funding; no five year plans; cut back on meetings; say no to customer proposed enhancements; turn some business away; use just the social media to build the audience. The book describes how this has worked for them.  

Sleeping with your smartphone: how to break the 24/7 habit and change the way you work.

Leslie A. Perlow

Harvard Business School Publishing, 2012

vi, 265 pages

ISBN: 9781422144046

Do you feel you always have to be available to clients and colleagues?  The cycle of responsiveness, while seemingly a necessary part of life for ambitious people, in reality detracts from the quality of work. This is the story of teams of consultants from Boston Consulting Group who worked together to ensure each one had some time each week to truly disconnect from work, “predictable time off”.  There are two steps to the process: agreeing a goal of the time off to be had by each team member and regular discussions each week as to how this is working in practice. Statistics showed that those teams using the method both had much higher job satisfaction and  also reported significantly higher scores of collaborative team work and team efficiency.  

GO INSIDE: The Other Side of the Screen

Here's the article from the brand new issue of SKOLKOVO business-school corporate magazine GO INSIDE!
Find out more about the new executive education module programme designed especially for sport broadcasting (sportivnoe veschanie), ANO:
GOinside5_ENG: The Other Side of the Screen

SKOLKOVO Startup Academy students’ first impressions

The SKOLKOVO Startup Academy students’ agenda is so busy that only at weekend they have found time to share their impressions with us! It is the first week in the Silicon Valley, but a lot of things have happened within those 7 days! Actually, it is impossible to name everything, which is why we suggest you follow the SKOLKOVO Startup Academy in Twitter where you can find live broadcasting from the lectures our students attend.

So, let us introduce Ekaterina Runova, SKOLKOVO Startup Academy first intake student, who has shared with us her impressions concerning the module in the Silicon Valley.

SKOLKOVO open lecture: Stephen Carver

On June 23rd the open lecture “Brilliant Project Management: Fast Track to Success – Adapt or Die” by Stephen Carver, visiting professor at SKOLKOVO, professional in the project management sphere, took place at the SKOLKOVO business school.

Stephen Carver has spent the major part of his working activity in the real business environment and is still successfully running his own enterprise managing his consulting company that provide services in the project management area. Stephen sticks to the rule, “If you have never done it yourself, you must not teach anybody”.

As all participants think that lecture has been one of the most outstanding, it won a round of standing applause! Probably, the audience has highly appreciated Stephen’s performance as he cleverly mixed theory with real examples and sparkling jokes. The audience has perceived Stephen Carver’s analogy as he compared airplane control and project management with great interest as well. From Stephen Carver’s point of view, a project manager as a pilot brings his team or a whole company from point A to point B. You can find all the details regarding that theory in the book by Stephen Carver that will see the light in the beginning of 2013.
 
The audience was impressed with a visual experiment that Stephen applied to illustrate the “idea acceptance” process. Unfortunately, we do not have a video release of that open lecture that is why we suggest you watch a video release of a similar Stephen Carver’s performance at Skoll World Forum 2011: